Taipei, Aug. 29 (CNA) The Huayen Forum of Globalization and the Seventh General Conference of World Buddhist Sangha Youth (WBSY) will take place Sep. 4-6 at the Sansia campus of National Taipei University, the organizers said Sunday.

The events, to be organized by the Da Huayen Monastery and the Huayen Buddhist Community, will address the topic "Globalization in Buddhism: Ecological Sustainability of Nature and Comprehensive Harmony" to highlight the increasing concerns over balancing human life with the natural environment.

Other topics to be discussed during the forum will include Buddhist practices and richness of mind in the New Era, the dialogue and collaboration between globalization and environmental protection efforts, Buddhist culture and human core values, and the dialogue between Buddhism and other religions.

Master Hai Yun Jimeng, who heads the Da Huayen Monastery and the Huayen Buddhist Community, took the initiative in organizing the forum in the hope of bringing together the resources of Buddhists around the world to help promote environmental protection, a harmonious society and intelligent exploration.

The forum is aimed at applying Buddhism to strengthen universal values and ethics and reach a "comprehensive harmony" in relations among peoples, between people and nature and their families, and within themselves.

Min Bahadur Shakya, founder of the Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods in Nepal, Dr. Harsha Kumar Navaratne, president of the SEWA LANKA Foundation in Sri Lanka, and many other Buddhist heavyweights from around the world will take part in the forum.

How foolish you are, grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention! - Vasubandhu

I find it sort of unfortunate when a group of Buddhists gather to discuss something outside of their field of expertise, like ecology in this case, or the economic situation, or they just talk about things generally, like "Hawaiian Sacred Dance of Hula", "Zen of Knitting" and "Tai Chi". Why is it that almost exclusively scholars discuss something relevant to Buddhism? Is it that Buddhists want to impress people how they can touch on newspaper topics, or things one would read in magazines, while academics don't mind talking about whatever they prefer to research, even if nobody else comes to listen outside of that area of knowledge?

"There is no such thing as the real mind. Ridding yourself of delusion: that's the real mind."(Sheng-yen: Getting the Buddha Mind, p 73)

Astus wrote:I find it sort of unfortunate when a group of Buddhists gather to discuss something outside of their field of expertise, like ecology in this case, or the economic situation, or they just talk about things generally, like "Hawaiian Sacred Dance of Hula", "Zen of Knitting" and "Tai Chi". Why is it that almost exclusively scholars discuss something relevant to Buddhism? Is it that Buddhists want to impress people how they can touch on newspaper topics, or things one would read in magazines, while academics don't mind talking about whatever they prefer to research, even if nobody else comes to listen outside of that area of knowledge?

A lot of Buddhist institutions want to appear relevant and socially active.

It goes with the whole modern vision of what constitutes "valuable" in society. There might be a widespread fear of appearing as social parasites, hence the drive towards humanitarianism and environmental activism, or any kind of field that the masses think is generally important.

That isn't bad, but those things are secondary to Buddhadharma. I have the impression that in Taiwan especially humanitarianism comes first and Buddhism comes second with Humanistic Buddhism.

It goes with the whole modern vision of what constitutes "valuable" in society. There might be a widespread fear of appearing as social parasites, hence the drive towards humanitarianism and environmental activism, or any kind of field that the masses think is generally important.

The events, to be organized by the Da Huayen Monastery and the Huayen Buddhist Community, will address the topic "Globalization in Buddhism: Ecological Sustainability of Nature and Comprehensive Harmony" to highlight the increasing concerns over balancing human life with the natural environment.

Other topics to be discussed during the forum will include Buddhist practices and richness of mind in the New Era, the dialogue and collaboration between globalization and environmental protection efforts, Buddhist culture and human core values, and the dialogue between Buddhism and other religions.

Another view is that Buddhism has a real contribution to make in order to help save the planet from destruction. For one thing, if people have some understanding of the deep interdependence of phenomena this will help people take responsibility for our relationships to each other and the planet and aid them in taking positive and helpful action to improve life conditions.